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Doug Ford attended Progressive Conservative fundraiser despite ban

Doug Ford breached Ontario’s strict new campaign rules by attending a Progressive Conservative fundraiser last month, the Star has learned.

As a result, Tory organizer Srini Suppiramaniam was fired Wednesday shortly after the Star inquired about the event.

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford, left, during an event at the Chandni Banquet Hall in Scarborough on April 29, 2018. PC campaign spokesperson Melissa Lantsman.said on Thursday that Ford was misinformed by the organizer about the nature of the event and that the party always follow Elections Ontario fundraising rules. Any money raised will be returned to the donors, she said. (Special to the Star)

Ford participated in the $250-a-plate April 29 dinner at the Chandni Banquet Hall in Scarborough — held the same night as the Toronto Strong vigil for victims of the Yonge St. van attack.

While his earlier attendance at the Mel Lastman Square vigil was included on the Tory leader’s official itinerary that is distributed to the media, the fundraiser was not.

“We have just been made aware that the leader was misinformed by the organizer about the nature of the event,” said PC campaign spokesperson Melissa Lantsman.

“The organizer has been removed from the campaign team effective immediately,” she said.

“Doug Ford and the Ontario PC Party always follow Elections Ontario fundraising rules, and as such we are filing an infraction,” said Lantsman.

“Any money raised at the event that was given to the campaign as a donation will be returned to the donors and we will not accept any money from these guests going forward,” she said.

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“Doug Ford takes full responsibility for what happened, and we will be putting protocols in place to ensure this never happens again.”

Contacted by the Star, Suppiramaniam said “there was nothing wrong” with the event, then hung up the phone. He did not return voice-mail messages.

Ford was photographed chatting with attendees at the event where head-table participants paid $2,000 apiece to rub shoulders with the man who polls suggest will be premier after the June 7 election.

It was billed as an opportunity for him to get to know members of Scarborough’s Tamil business community.

Tickets were initially printed using the PC Party logo, but those were scrapped in favour of tickets using the Tory leader’s “Ford Nation” branding, Tory sources said.

But under Ontario’s Election Finances Act, which took effect on Jan. 1, 2017 after reforms triggered by a Star series, no MPP, cabinet minister, nominated candidate, or party leader is allowed to attend a fundraising event.

Penalties include fines of up to $5,000 for individuals who break the law and up to $50,000 for corporations or unions that do so.

Conservative MPPs voted for the law and the provisions banning provincial politicians from attending fundraisers were added after the Tories pushed for amendments initially restricting only the premier and cabinet ministers.

The governing Liberals expanded the prohibition to include opposition members and would-be MPPs.

Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne’s government tightened political fundraising rules effective last year after a series of stories in the Star in 2016.

Union and corporate donations to parties are now banned and annual contribution limits have been lowered from $9,975 per person to $1,200.

The new law public bankrolls the four major parties based on their tallies in the most recent election with a $2.71-per-vote subsidy.

Each year that gives the Liberals, who received 1,863,974 votes in the 2014 election, $5.06 million. The Tories, with 1,508,811 votes, get $4.09 million. The NDP, with 1,144,822 votes, receive $3.1 million. The Greens, with 232,536 votes, get $630,000.

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